The Australasian Railway Association survey found 26 per cent of city-dwellers are "quite likely or very likely" to make the tree change, with about one third of respondents citing COVID as a motivator.

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However the largest obstacle, cited by 45 respondents, was long travel times.

The report describes Australia's regional rail network is "slow compared to international standards and struggles to compete with travel by road".

Young businesswoman Mariam Rehman said slow trains were a deterrent both for young people in search of job opportunities as well as older people seeking the tree change.

"The statistics show that due to COVID a lot of people are moving to regional areas, and in terms of capturing and ensuring people keep coming transport is vital for every age group," she said.

"We can change the perception of what Wagga is like in the minds of people in metropolitan cities if we improve the small things like our transportation and finally getting a shop in Estella."

Committee4Wagga chairwoman Justeen Kirk said she was "pleasantly surprised" with the Wagga lifestyle, having previously been a Canberra girl.

She said she was glad to leave Canberra's "terrifying" housing market and move to Wagga, where she was able to find a house twice as large at 30 per cent cheaper than her old place.

Mrs Kirk said she much prefers the country lifestyle compared to Canberra's hustle and bustle, saying that metropolitan-dwellers would greatly appreciate Wagga's short commute times.

"The thing I love about the regions the most is the low cost of housing as well as the lifestyle, having less time caught up in traffic and more time doing those things that are important to us: spending time with family, following our interests and pursuits outside of work," she said.

"Those are the things we were pleasantly surprised about when we moved here."